The Greatest Player Who Never Lived by J. Michael Veron
Josh Sokoloff
Title and Author - The book I chose to read was The Greatest Player Who Never Lived by J. Michael Veron. The reason I decided to read this book was because I really like golf. Golf is very important in my life, so I am really satisfied that I was able to choose a golf book for my independent reading. When I was looking for a book to read, this one caught my eye and it just looked like it would be very interesting to read. Also the book received great reviews. Over the time I have been struggling to find a golf book that I would actually enjoy and am so glad that I found The Greatest Player Who Never Lived.
Genre –The Greatest Player Who Never Lived is a fiction book. This book is very strange because some of the characters are actually real and some of the characters of not real. Like Charley Hunter, Beau Stedman, The Gladstone’s are all fake characters. Unlike those characters, Bobby Jones and all the golfers Beau played against are real.
The Greatest Player Who Never Lived fits into historical fiction. Historical fiction is stories set in the past and describing the events and character’s lives. Half of the book is historical fiction because it talks about the lives of people in the past. Charley Hunter is at a summer internship at a law firm. His first task when he gets there is to catalog legal files that belonged to Bobby Jones. While going over these files he comes across an amateur golfer named Beau Stedman who had a close relationship with Bobby Jones. Throughout the book we get flashbacks of golf tournaments involving Bobby Jones and Beau Stedman. This is why part of this book is historical fiction.
This book could also fit into the genre of mystery. Mystery is stories that contain a crime, puzzle, or confusing situation. This book contains a crime and Charley Hunter, a intern at a law firm, tries to solve it. Mystery fits into this book because Beau Stedman was accused of killing the manager of Crimson Banks Golf Club wife. It wouldn’t seem like Beau, a 16-year-old kid, would do something like this, so Charley tries to find out who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. In the end of the book Charley finds out the truth about who really killed Harold’s wife.
Plot – Charley Hunter goes to work at a summer intern at Butler and Yates, a professional law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. His first task when he gets there Monday morning is to catalog legal files that belonged to Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones is the best golfer to play the game. Bobby was also part of the law firm along with playing amateur golf. While Charley was organizing the files he cam across some personal letters from Bobby Jones to Beauregard Stedman, also known as Beau. Those letters show that Beau had beaten Jones in a tournament. Charley Hunter, who was very intrigued by this, did some more research on this unknown golfer named Beau Stedman. He found that Beau was accused of murdering a local golf club manager’s wife. Due to this, Stedman had to flee his home state of South Carolina and go somewhere safe. Surprisingly, Jones and Stedman still kept a close relationship and contacted each other on a regular basis. Throughout the book Bobby Jones helped Beau Stedman find golf matches with some great golfers,. Stedman had beaten these players every time. During the matches, Beau had to create new identities each time to make sure he didn’t get caught. Even though Bobby Jones couldn’t mention that he was communicating with Stedman, he did his best to keep Beau playing the game because he new that Beau had a wicked talent for the game of golf.
Throughout the book Charley tries to find who actually killed Harold Gladstone’s, the manager of a local golf club, wife. It doesn’t seem likely that a shy, 16 year old teenager would commit this crime. Towards the end of the book Charley finds out who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife due to letters and papers Harold Gladstone’s daughter gave to Charley. Charley wants Beau Stedman’s story to be publicized, so he goes to New Jersey where the USGA headquarters agreed to have an exhibit on Beau. Right before the exhibit was about to open, one of Harold Gladstone’s sons sued the USGA for posting false information about who really killed Harold’s wife. Due to this, Charley and the USGA had to go to court against the Gladstone’s.
Main Characters – The first main character in The Greatest Player Who Never Lived is Charley Hunter. Charley lives in Atlanta, Georgia and just finished his first year of law school at Tulane. Charley also qualified for the law review and many offers of summer employment involving law firms. Charley decided to choose Butler and Yates in Atlanta. In the book Charley says, “The firm was about the right size, too. It was what I called my Goldilocks firm – not to big, not to small, but just right.” Charley’s first task at the law firm was to go through Bobby Jones (the greatest golfer ever) files. While going through his files he finds that in the 1928 Southern Amateur, Beau Stedman, a 16 year old kid, had beaten Bobby Jones. The really caught the eye of Charley, so throughout his internship he collects information about Beau Stedman and his relationship he had with Bobby Jones. Charley Hunter also played golf, but didn’t play a lot. Charley mentions, “I guess you could say that I played well enough not to embarrass myself but not so well as to embarrass anyone else, either.” Charley also said that he didn’t care enough about the game to take it seriously. Charley was also fortunate enough to play Augusta National, which is the most private golf club and has 275 members that are all very, very wealthy. Charley had a miraculous round at Augusta shooting a 69, 3 under par, which is way below his 10 handicap. Charley says, “Maybe I had so deeply immersed myself into their lives that some of them had become part of me.” In that quote “them” is referring to Bobby Jones and Beau Stedman. Towards the end of the book, Charley’s intern comes to an end with Butler and Yates, but wants all the information he found about Beau Stedman to be publicized. He was able to get an exhibit in the USGA headquarters, but the son’s of Harold Gladstone sued the USGA for posting false information about who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. Charley and the USGA managed to win the case allowing them to open up the Beau Stedman exhibit after all. Right after the case was closed Charley and Beau Stedman, himself, meet at last.
Another important character in the book is Beau Stedman, a 15-year-old boy from South Carolina. Beau is a very good golfer. A description of Beau is mentioned saying, “He appeared to be fairly short, no more than 5’6”. But he was thick in the chest and his uprolled sleeves showed the kind of forearms that appeared strong enough to strangle an opponent if he had a mind to.” In the 1928 Southern Amateur, Beau Stedman beat Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones was the greatest player who ever played the game of golf, so having an unknown, 15-year-old kid, beating the best player ever, was a pretty good accomplishment. This wasn’t just like a lucky thing by Beau because he continued to beat some of the best players in the game. On January 27, 1930, was accused of killing a manager’s wife at Hilton Head Club in South Carolina. The manager, Harold Gladstone, says, “He had found his wife’s bloodstained body in their residence at the club. The clipping described how she had been stabbed 47 times.” Harold Gladstone accused Stedman, who was said to have worked at the club as an assistant pro, of the murder. Beau not knowing what to do decided to run as far away from South Carolina as possible. Beau and Bobby Jones had a fairly good relationship, even after the murder that Beau was accused of. They both wrote letters to each other and in those letters it shows that Beau wasn’t very smart. He misspelled many words like writing “wooden” instead of “wouldn’t” and “chare” instead of “chair”. In those letters Beau also says that he would never hurt anybody and didn’t kill Harold’s wife. Charley Hunter thought Beau was dead, but in the end of the book he meets Charley in person and they have a very long talk. Beau Stedman is the greatest who never lived.
Harold Gladstone is also an important character. He is the manager of Crimson Bank Golf Club in South Carolina. He is married and has 3 children. Those children are Katherine, Benjamin, and Michael. Harold Gladstone was pretty rich based on the information given to us in the book. He had many nannies to take care of his kids. He also didn’t have a great relationship with his daughter. Katherine, his daughter, says, “You have to understand, my father was a hard man. He was not affectionate toward me. I never was daddy’s little girl.” In 1963, Harold Gladstone was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He also accused Beau Stedman of killing his wife, but towards the end of the book, Charley Hunter receives a box full of letters from Katherine and one of those letters prove Harold killed his wife, not Beau. In the letters he admits he had beaten his wife on many occasions. Harold also thought this lead to Beau and Harold’s wife having a “thing” together, so he killed her and blamed Beau instead. Harold Gladstone was the reason Beau never got to play and win golf tournaments during his lifetime.
Theme/Big Ideas – The theme of The Greatest Player Who Never Lived is the impact sports has on the social world. In the book, Beau Stedman was projected to be the greatest player who ever lived. He had beaten the greatest players in the game and he was only 16. Then one day, he was accused of killing a golf club manager’s wife. The media got involved with this and it just went viral. Beau obviously was very confused just like any 16 year old would be, so ran away. This basically ruined Beau’s career. He didn’t even get a chance to prove he was not guilty. And if he were found hiding, he would have gone straight to prison. When Beau went hiding he didn’t know what to do, but luckily he had his one friend to contact, which was Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones helped Beau Stedman go undercover and still play some matches, but nothing too big. Atleast Beau still got to play golf while he was hiding from the cops. Once Beau ran away, nobody really tried to find Beau or do anything, they just assumed he died. Later on in the book Charley Hunter found information that proved Beau Stedman did not kill Harold Gladstone’s wife. The real murderer was Harold Gladstone himself. It didn’t really matter that Beau didn’t kill Harold’s wife at this point in time because Harold was already dead and Beau was nowhere to be found and really old or dead. This is just ridiculous that Harold Gladstone had to blame an innocent 16 year old for something that Harold did himself. Harold basically ruined Beau’s life and caused him never to play golf at a professional level. Also if this was just an average person, not as much media would have been involved, so it is amazing how sports have such a huge impact on the social world. This shows the impact sports have on the social world.
The big ideas in the book were that Beau was accused of murdering a golf club manager's wife. This caused him to hide for his life, which forced him to give up his golf career. He had such big potential for his age, but it was ruined due to a murder he was accused of. Another big idea was that Charley Hunter wanted to publicize Beau Stedman's story, so got the USGA to make an exhibit on Beau. The Gladstone family sued the USGA for having false information about who killed Harold Gladstone's wife. Charley and the USGA had to go to court against the Gladstone's, which would determine if the USGA could open the exhibit on Beau Stedman or not.
Major Conflicts – The one major conflict of the book is who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. Harold Gladstone accused Beau Stedman of killing her. Beau was once an assistant manager at that golf club. Charley Hunter says, “The assistant pro was just that – an assistant pro.” This shows us that the assistant pro was treated just like an average employee at the club and wasn’t all that special or important. Maybe Beau had a hatred for Harold, so killed her, but not enough evidence was given at first to prove Beau killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. Since Beau was only 16, he was really confused and scared, so he ran away. Some of the letters Beau had written to Bobby Jones show that Beau had gone far away from South Carolina as Texas. Bobby Jones tried to help Beau by seeking him matches with fellow golf competitors like Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Sam Snead, which were some of the greatest players of their time. Bobby Jones had to be very careful not to get caught talking to Beau because he would get in serious trouble.
Charley Hunter tries to find who killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. When he was going through some of Bobby Jones letters, he find that Beau sent him a letter saying, “You known I wooden do nothing so bad. But what chance have I got? They say I will get the chare. I don’t want to die for sumthin I did not do.” Also, Charley call one of Harold’s sons, Michael. When Charley called him and told Michael his story, Michael answered, “I have no desire to be part of your little project. Kindly let my mother and father rest in peace.” Then hung up. Charley tried calling Harold’s other son, Benjamin, but that went the same way. Charley’s last chance was calling Katherine, Harold’s daughter. Unlike her brothers, she was willing to help. She invited Charley to come over where she gave him a box full of letters written by Harold Gladstone. Charley and Katherine opened up the box together where they found a letter saying he had killed his wife. Katherine identified that letter as Harold Gladstone’s handwriting and he also signed it too. If Beau wasn’t accused of something he didn’t do and not have to go into hiding, he could have won so many golf tournaments in his lifetime.
Symbolic Image – My symbolic image was created through the title of the book, The Greatest Player Who Never Lived. My picture shows a shadow of a golfer hitting a golf ball on the 19th golf tournament. You can also see a scoreboard near the green of the 18th hole that shows who is in the lead. The name of the tournament leader is “unknown”. Beneath “unknown” you have some of the all time greats like Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Byron Nelson. The “unknown” person represents Beau Stedman. The “unknown” person, also known as Beau Stedman is the shadow hitting onto the 18th green. The “unknown” person represents Beau because he was the greatest player who never lived.
Strange and Unusual Words –
1. The first strange word I found in the book was kin. The sentence using this word in the book is, “I’m sure he’s been dead for years, and I don’t have a clue how to notify his next of kin, if he has any.” I think kin means family members. The actual definition of kin is one’s family and relations.
2. The second strange word I found was wince. The sentence using this word in the book is, “I almost winced as I finished speaking.” I think wince means stuttered. The actual definition of wince is to give a slight involuntary grimace or shrinking movement of the body out of or in anticipation of pain or distress.
3. The third strange word I found was rebuttal. The book uses rebuttal as, “Neither one of us could call forth any kind of rebuttal to his obviously correct observations.” I think rebuttal means counterexample or information to prove something is wrong. The real definition is a refutation or contradiction.
4. Another strange word I found was bumpkin. The sentence using this word in the book is, “But he was no country bumpkin.” I think it means a redneck person. The authentic definition is an unsophisticated or socially awkward person from the countryside.
5. The fifth word that I didn’t know was savvy. The sentence using this word in the book is, “Again, he was savvy enough to insist on being paid in cash.” I think savvy means smart and knowledgeable. The genuine definition is shrewdness and practical knowledge.
6. The last word I didn’t know too well was pleasantries. The sentence using this word in the book is, “After the usual pleasantries…” I think it means like greeting words. For example hello, how are you, and word like that. The actual definition is an inconsequential remark made as part of a polite conversation.
Similarities –The Greatest Player Who Never Lived by J. Michael Veron isn’t really similar to any books that I know of except for The Greatest Course That Never Was, which is also written by J. Michael Veron.The Greatest Course That Never Was by J. Michael Veron is a sequel to The Greatest Player Who Never Lived. These two books are very similar. J. Michael Veron introduces Charley Hunter again in The Greatest Course That Never Was, but this time Charley Hunter is actually a lawyer at Butler and Yates, not an intern. The two books are similar because they are both mystery books. In The Greatest Course That Never Was, Charley is trying to discover the greatest course, just like in The Greatest Player Who Never Lived, Charley is trying to discover who Beau Stedman is (the greatest golfer). The books are also similar because they both have the genre of historical fiction. Both books use information from the past about Bobby Jones. In The Greatest Player Who Never Lived, Bobby Jones has a good relationship with Beau Stedman, but in The Greatest Course That Never Was, Bobby Jones is the creator of the outstanding course that Charley Hunter is trying to find. Both books use real people and fake people. For example Charley Hunter, Beau Stedman, and the caddie Moonlight in The Greatest Course That Never Was are all fake people. Bobby Jones is a real character that plays a part in both of the books. Both books, written by J. Michael Veron, are very similar.
The Greatest Player Who Never Lived by J. Michael Veron
Josh Sokoloff
Title and Author - The book I chose to read was The Greatest Player Who Never Lived by J. Michael Veron. The reason I decided to read this book was because I really like golf. Golf is very important in my life, so I am really satisfied that I was able to choose a golf book for my independent reading. When I was looking for a book to read, this one caught my eye and it just looked like it would be very interesting to read. Also the book received great reviews. Over the time I have been struggling to find a golf book that I would actually enjoy and am so glad that I found The Greatest Player Who Never Lived.
Genre – The Greatest Player Who Never Lived is a fiction book. This book is very strange because some of the characters are actually real and some of the characters of not real. Like Charley Hunter, Beau Stedman, The Gladstone’s are all fake characters. Unlike those characters, Bobby Jones and all the golfers Beau played against are real.
The Greatest Player Who Never Lived fits into historical fiction. Historical fiction is stories set in the past and describing the events and character’s lives. Half of the book is historical fiction because it talks about the lives of people in the past. Charley Hunter is at a summer internship at a law firm. His first task when he gets there is to catalog legal files that belonged to Bobby Jones. While going over these files he comes across an amateur golfer named Beau Stedman who had a close relationship with Bobby Jones. Throughout the book we get flashbacks of golf tournaments involving Bobby Jones and Beau Stedman. This is why part of this book is historical fiction.
This book could also fit into the genre of mystery. Mystery is stories that contain a crime, puzzle, or confusing situation. This book contains a crime and Charley Hunter, a intern at a law firm, tries to solve it. Mystery fits into this book because Beau Stedman was accused of killing the manager of Crimson Banks Golf Club wife. It wouldn’t seem like Beau, a 16-year-old kid, would do something like this, so Charley tries to find out who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. In the end of the book Charley finds out the truth about who really killed Harold’s wife.
Plot – Charley Hunter goes to work at a summer intern at Butler and Yates, a professional law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. His first task when he gets there Monday morning is to catalog legal files that belonged to Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones is the best golfer to play the game. Bobby was also part of the law firm along with playing amateur golf. While Charley was organizing the files he cam across some personal letters from Bobby Jones to Beauregard Stedman, also known as Beau. Those letters show that Beau had beaten Jones in a tournament. Charley Hunter, who was very intrigued by this, did some more research on this unknown golfer named Beau Stedman. He found that Beau was accused of murdering a local golf club manager’s wife. Due to this, Stedman had to flee his home state of South Carolina and go somewhere safe. Surprisingly, Jones and Stedman still kept a close relationship and contacted each other on a regular basis. Throughout the book Bobby Jones helped Beau Stedman find golf matches with some great golfers,. Stedman had beaten these players every time. During the matches, Beau had to create new identities each time to make sure he didn’t get caught. Even though Bobby Jones couldn’t mention that he was communicating with Stedman, he did his best to keep Beau playing the game because he new that Beau had a wicked talent for the game of golf.
Throughout the book Charley tries to find who actually killed Harold Gladstone’s, the manager of a local golf club, wife. It doesn’t seem likely that a shy, 16 year old teenager would commit this crime. Towards the end of the book Charley finds out who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife due to letters and papers Harold Gladstone’s daughter gave to Charley. Charley wants Beau Stedman’s story to be publicized, so he goes to New Jersey where the USGA headquarters agreed to have an exhibit on Beau. Right before the exhibit was about to open, one of Harold Gladstone’s sons sued the USGA for posting false information about who really killed Harold’s wife. Due to this, Charley and the USGA had to go to court against the Gladstone’s.
Main Characters – The first main character in The Greatest Player Who Never Lived is Charley Hunter. Charley lives in Atlanta, Georgia and just finished his first year of law school at Tulane. Charley also qualified for the law review and many offers of summer employment involving law firms. Charley decided to choose Butler and Yates in Atlanta. In the book Charley says, “The firm was about the right size, too. It was what I called my Goldilocks firm – not to big, not to small, but just right.” Charley’s first task at the law firm was to go through Bobby Jones (the greatest golfer ever) files. While going through his files he finds that in the 1928 Southern Amateur, Beau Stedman, a 16 year old kid, had beaten Bobby Jones. The really caught the eye of Charley, so throughout his internship he collects information about Beau Stedman and his relationship he had with Bobby Jones. Charley Hunter also played golf, but didn’t play a lot. Charley mentions, “I guess you could say that I played well enough not to embarrass myself but not so well as to embarrass anyone else, either.” Charley also said that he didn’t care enough about the game to take it seriously. Charley was also fortunate enough to play Augusta National, which is the most private golf club and has 275 members that are all very, very wealthy. Charley had a miraculous round at Augusta shooting a 69, 3 under par, which is way below his 10 handicap. Charley says, “Maybe I had so deeply immersed myself into their lives that some of them had become part of me.” In that quote “them” is referring to Bobby Jones and Beau Stedman. Towards the end of the book, Charley’s intern comes to an end with Butler and Yates, but wants all the information he found about Beau Stedman to be publicized. He was able to get an exhibit in the USGA headquarters, but the son’s of Harold Gladstone sued the USGA for posting false information about who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. Charley and the USGA managed to win the case allowing them to open up the Beau Stedman exhibit after all. Right after the case was closed Charley and Beau Stedman, himself, meet at last.
Another important character in the book is Beau Stedman, a 15-year-old boy from South Carolina. Beau is a very good golfer. A description of Beau is mentioned saying, “He appeared to be fairly short, no more than 5’6”. But he was thick in the chest and his uprolled sleeves showed the kind of forearms that appeared strong enough to strangle an opponent if he had a mind to.” In the 1928 Southern Amateur, Beau Stedman beat Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones was the greatest player who ever played the game of golf, so having an unknown, 15-year-old kid, beating the best player ever, was a pretty good accomplishment. This wasn’t just like a lucky thing by Beau because he continued to beat some of the best players in the game. On January 27, 1930, was accused of killing a manager’s wife at Hilton Head Club in South Carolina. The manager, Harold Gladstone, says, “He had found his wife’s bloodstained body in their residence at the club. The clipping described how she had been stabbed 47 times.” Harold Gladstone accused Stedman, who was said to have worked at the club as an assistant pro, of the murder. Beau not knowing what to do decided to run as far away from South Carolina as possible. Beau and Bobby Jones had a fairly good relationship, even after the murder that Beau was accused of. They both wrote letters to each other and in those letters it shows that Beau wasn’t very smart. He misspelled many words like writing “wooden” instead of “wouldn’t” and “chare” instead of “chair”. In those letters Beau also says that he would never hurt anybody and didn’t kill Harold’s wife. Charley Hunter thought Beau was dead, but in the end of the book he meets Charley in person and they have a very long talk. Beau Stedman is the greatest who never lived.
Harold Gladstone is also an important character. He is the manager of Crimson Bank Golf Club in South Carolina. He is married and has 3 children. Those children are Katherine, Benjamin, and Michael. Harold Gladstone was pretty rich based on the information given to us in the book. He had many nannies to take care of his kids. He also didn’t have a great relationship with his daughter. Katherine, his daughter, says, “You have to understand, my father was a hard man. He was not affectionate toward me. I never was daddy’s little girl.” In 1963, Harold Gladstone was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He also accused Beau Stedman of killing his wife, but towards the end of the book, Charley Hunter receives a box full of letters from Katherine and one of those letters prove Harold killed his wife, not Beau. In the letters he admits he had beaten his wife on many occasions. Harold also thought this lead to Beau and Harold’s wife having a “thing” together, so he killed her and blamed Beau instead. Harold Gladstone was the reason Beau never got to play and win golf tournaments during his lifetime.
Theme/Big Ideas – The theme of The Greatest Player Who Never Lived is the impact sports has on the social world. In the book, Beau Stedman was projected to be the greatest player who ever lived. He had beaten the greatest players in the game and he was only 16. Then one day, he was accused of killing a golf club manager’s wife. The media got involved with this and it just went viral. Beau obviously was very confused just like any 16 year old would be, so ran away. This basically ruined Beau’s career. He didn’t even get a chance to prove he was not guilty. And if he were found hiding, he would have gone straight to prison. When Beau went hiding he didn’t know what to do, but luckily he had his one friend to contact, which was Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones helped Beau Stedman go undercover and still play some matches, but nothing too big. Atleast Beau still got to play golf while he was hiding from the cops. Once Beau ran away, nobody really tried to find Beau or do anything, they just assumed he died. Later on in the book Charley Hunter found information that proved Beau Stedman did not kill Harold Gladstone’s wife. The real murderer was Harold Gladstone himself. It didn’t really matter that Beau didn’t kill Harold’s wife at this point in time because Harold was already dead and Beau was nowhere to be found and really old or dead. This is just ridiculous that Harold Gladstone had to blame an innocent 16 year old for something that Harold did himself. Harold basically ruined Beau’s life and caused him never to play golf at a professional level. Also if this was just an average person, not as much media would have been involved, so it is amazing how sports have such a huge impact on the social world. This shows the impact sports have on the social world.
The big ideas in the book were that Beau was accused of murdering a golf club manager's wife. This caused him to hide for his life, which forced him to give up his golf career. He had such big potential for his age, but it was ruined due to a murder he was accused of. Another big idea was that Charley Hunter wanted to publicize Beau Stedman's story, so got the USGA to make an exhibit on Beau. The Gladstone family sued the USGA for having false information about who killed Harold Gladstone's wife. Charley and the USGA had to go to court against the Gladstone's, which would determine if the USGA could open the exhibit on Beau Stedman or not.
Major Conflicts – The one major conflict of the book is who really killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. Harold Gladstone accused Beau Stedman of killing her. Beau was once an assistant manager at that golf club. Charley Hunter says, “The assistant pro was just that – an assistant pro.” This shows us that the assistant pro was treated just like an average employee at the club and wasn’t all that special or important. Maybe Beau had a hatred for Harold, so killed her, but not enough evidence was given at first to prove Beau killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. Since Beau was only 16, he was really confused and scared, so he ran away. Some of the letters Beau had written to Bobby Jones show that Beau had gone far away from South Carolina as Texas. Bobby Jones tried to help Beau by seeking him matches with fellow golf competitors like Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Sam Snead, which were some of the greatest players of their time. Bobby Jones had to be very careful not to get caught talking to Beau because he would get in serious trouble.
Charley Hunter tries to find who killed Harold Gladstone’s wife. When he was going through some of Bobby Jones letters, he find that Beau sent him a letter saying, “You known I wooden do nothing so bad. But what chance have I got? They say I will get the chare. I don’t want to die for sumthin I did not do.” Also, Charley call one of Harold’s sons, Michael. When Charley called him and told Michael his story, Michael answered, “I have no desire to be part of your little project. Kindly let my mother and father rest in peace.” Then hung up. Charley tried calling Harold’s other son, Benjamin, but that went the same way. Charley’s last chance was calling Katherine, Harold’s daughter. Unlike her brothers, she was willing to help. She invited Charley to come over where she gave him a box full of letters written by Harold Gladstone. Charley and Katherine opened up the box together where they found a letter saying he had killed his wife. Katherine identified that letter as Harold Gladstone’s handwriting and he also signed it too. If Beau wasn’t accused of something he didn’t do and not have to go into hiding, he could have won so many golf tournaments in his lifetime.
Symbolic Image – My symbolic image was created through the title of the book, The Greatest Player Who Never Lived. My picture shows a shadow of a golfer hitting a golf ball on the 19th golf tournament. You can also see a scoreboard near the green of the 18th hole that shows who is in the lead. The name of the tournament leader is “unknown”. Beneath “unknown” you have some of the all time greats like Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Byron Nelson. The “unknown” person represents Beau Stedman. The “unknown” person, also known as Beau Stedman is the shadow hitting onto the 18th green. The “unknown” person represents Beau because he was the greatest player who never lived.
Strange and Unusual Words –
1. The first strange word I found in the book was kin. The sentence using this word in the book is, “I’m sure he’s been dead for years, and I don’t have a clue how to notify his next of kin, if he has any.” I think kin means family members. The actual definition of kin is one’s family and relations.
2. The second strange word I found was wince. The sentence using this word in the book is, “I almost winced as I finished speaking.” I think wince means stuttered. The actual definition of wince is to give a slight involuntary grimace or shrinking movement of the body out of or in anticipation of pain or distress.
3. The third strange word I found was rebuttal. The book uses rebuttal as, “Neither one of us could call forth any kind of rebuttal to his obviously correct observations.” I think rebuttal means counterexample or information to prove something is wrong. The real definition is a refutation or contradiction.
4. Another strange word I found was bumpkin. The sentence using this word in the book is, “But he was no country bumpkin.” I think it means a redneck person. The authentic definition is an unsophisticated or socially awkward person from the countryside.
5. The fifth word that I didn’t know was savvy. The sentence using this word in the book is, “Again, he was savvy enough to insist on being paid in cash.” I think savvy means smart and knowledgeable. The genuine definition is shrewdness and practical knowledge.
6. The last word I didn’t know too well was pleasantries. The sentence using this word in the book is, “After the usual pleasantries…” I think it means like greeting words. For example hello, how are you, and word like that. The actual definition is an inconsequential remark made as part of a polite conversation.
Similarities – The Greatest Player Who Never Lived by J. Michael Veron isn’t really similar to any books that I know of except for The Greatest Course That Never Was, which is also written by J. Michael Veron.The Greatest Course That Never Was by J. Michael Veron is a sequel to The Greatest Player Who Never Lived. These two books are very similar. J. Michael Veron introduces Charley Hunter again in The Greatest Course That Never Was, but this time Charley Hunter is actually a lawyer at Butler and Yates, not an intern. The two books are similar because they are both mystery books. In The Greatest Course That Never Was, Charley is trying to discover the greatest course, just like in The Greatest Player Who Never Lived, Charley is trying to discover who Beau Stedman is (the greatest golfer). The books are also similar because they both have the genre of historical fiction. Both books use information from the past about Bobby Jones. In The Greatest Player Who Never Lived, Bobby Jones has a good relationship with Beau Stedman, but in The Greatest Course That Never Was, Bobby Jones is the creator of the outstanding course that Charley Hunter is trying to find. Both books use real people and fake people. For example Charley Hunter, Beau Stedman, and the caddie Moonlight in The Greatest Course That Never Was are all fake people. Bobby Jones is a real character that plays a part in both of the books. Both books, written by J. Michael Veron, are very similar.
Goodreads Review - http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/11967369?shelf=read